“A proposal by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines to convey the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes has generated a mixture of excitement, concern, and outright opposition in Montana. The provision, included in a broader bill settling the historic water rights ...

“Law360 (February 20, 2020, 10:09 PM EST) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it’s moving toward setting a drinking water health standard for two common ‘forever chemicals,’ a step environmentalists immediately slammed as ‘too little ...

“The National Park Service today defended its hiring of former acting Director P. Daniel Smith for a job in North Carolina that appeared to be posted just for him. In an official posting, NPS officials described the position as a telework job that paid up to $166,000 a year and was ...

“The Trump administration has gone three years without a Senate-confirmed director of the National Park Service and filled many jobs with ‘acting’ positions, a practice that Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility claims has created a ‘leadership vacuum&# ...

“Every once in a while, I’ll catch a news item that not only justifies, but freshens and hardens my cynicism. This time, the Beltway news site Politico drooled out a 3,600-word epic produced in conjunction with nonprofit Type Investigations, covering exploration for lithium (a ...

“The Department of Interior (DOI) is overriding local decision-making in the rural West to allow expanded mining and resource extraction on federal public land, a report says. According to the DOI’s critics,  documents recently released by an organization that represents public- ...

“When P. Daniel Smith walked away from his job as deputy director of the National Park Service last fall, he didn’t walk back into retirement but rather into a position Interior Secretary David Bernhardt created for Smith that just happened to be based in Smith’s hometown ...

“Easily lost amid the turmoil in the Trump administration last week was the firing of Mike Stoker, the administrator for the EPA giant Region 9. Stoker, a Republican and Trump appointee, blames clashes with EPA headquarters in Washington plus his willingness to work with Democrats— ...

“A federal whistleblower complaint says there are open pits of toxic wastewater, roads bulldozed through protected wildlife habitat, and secret hunting cabins — all on public lands in Nevada. Is Nevada’s BLM — and its Battle Mountain District, in particular — allowing all  ...

“When P. Daniel Smith left his job as acting director of the National Park Service on Sept. 30, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt asked him to take a new role leading the agency’s efforts to celebrate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on July 4, 2026. Under the ...

“National Park Service officials have declined to respond to allegations that P. Dan Smith, who was brought out of retirement by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to effectively be director of the National Park Service, was given a sweetheart deal last fall when he stepped down to ...

“NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A lawsuit seeking to return federal protection to the real bears that inspired teddy bears has been thrown out by a federal judge. The people and environmental groups who sued in 2018 didn’t provide any evidence to back up their claims that they would be hurt ...

“The ousted head of the Western region office of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday he believes he fell victim to his popularity with Democrats, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had praised him for his work on the cleanup of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San ...

“NEW ORLEANS — A lawsuit seeking to return federal protection to the real bears that inspired teddy bears has been thrown out by a federal judge. The people and environmental groups who sued in 2018 didn’t provide any evidence to back up their claims that they would be hurt by ...

“A federal agency finally has published an investigation into lead contamination caused by target shooting on public lands in Arizona, two years after investigators substantiated several concerns raised by a whistleblower. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel made the allegations and ...

“COKER CREEK, Tenn. — The U.S. Forest Service has finished repairs on an estimated $2.4 million in damage the agency did to the Trail of Tears in Coker Creek, Tennessee, back in 2014 in a misguided attempt to discourage off-roaders and address erosion.” Read the PEER Story ...

“DYER, Nevada—On a cold, windy day in late October, in one of the most remote and least populated regions of the state, a half-dozen workers prepared to drill another test hole in the arid volcanic rock. They were looking for deposits of lithium, a metal that has become ...

“GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Calif. — I recently violated federal law high in the Marin Headlands overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. How? By riding an electric bike for a mile along the Julian Trail, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The trail is popular ...

“A conservation group on Thursday released documents obtained from the Bureau of Land Management that suggest agency leadership directed the overhaul of the resources management plan proposal for the agency’s Uncompahgre Field Office. The proposal unveiled last summer differs ...

“The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Washington office ignored the advice of its Colorado staff, deciding to expand oil and gas drilling in the southwest corner of the state because earlier plans were ‘not in line with the administration’s direction to decrease regulatory ...